Sacks' Speech

Part of the speech of the Chief Rabbi of Great Britain at the Solidarity Rally for Israel, Sunday, 23 JULY 2006, JFS, KENTON, LONDON:-

Why then does a people who have consistently said Yes to life and No to death,
Who have consistently said Yes to peace and No to terror,
Find itself today fighting in Lebanon and Gaza?

The answer is so simple, yet so unbelievable, that we must hear it clearly and
unequivocally:
Israel is fighting today in Lebanon because 6 years ago it withdrew from
Lebanon.
Israel is fighting today in Gaza because 1 year ago it withdrew from Gaza.
And Israel discovered the terrible truth spoken by the late Mother Theresa
That no good deed goes unpunished.
Every gesture of goodwill undertaken by Israel has been seized on by its enemies
as a sign of weakness.
Every Israeli effort towards peace has led without exception to an increase in
violence against Israel.

The Oslo Peace Process led directly to the first Palestinian suicide attacks in
Israel.
Taba: the most generous offer Israel ever made to the Palestinians, led directly to
the most concerted set of terrorist attacks against any nation in modern history.
The Gaza Withdrawal, the most painful act Israel has ever had to undertake, led
within less than a year to 1000 Kassam rocket attacks on Israeli civilian targets
including schoolchildren.
And finally the Lebanon withdrawal, undertaken by Israel six years ago in full
compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 425. That
resolution was immediately broken by Hizbullah, about which the United
Nations special envoy to Lebanon warned at the time, in November 2000: “Such
breaches of international peace and security in the south threaten to ignite a new
spiral of violence with tragic consequences for the civilian population.”
That failure led in 2004 to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559
which called categorically for the disarming of militias in Lebanon. Again
rejected. This time Kofi Annan himself protested to the Syrians. The effect? The
arming of Hizbullah with weapons that threaten the very heart of Israel.
Israel withdrew from Lebanon.